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You may think you have a common job, but just how common is it? That might depend on where you live.
Some states have very common jobs that make up the most popular for workers, while there are a few states that find more specialized work is actually popular with residents. Almost 170 million Americans are in the workforce, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), so it's possible for any number of careers to rise to the top depending on where you live.
But can you guess which one is the most popular in your state, and do you wonder if it's yours? Here are some answers from the BLS, as rounded up by Visual Capitalist, to see if your guess is the right one.
Fast Food Workers
Fast food workers dominate the list of most popular jobs, with it making the top of the list in 17 states: Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. Texas by far has more fast food workers of any of these states, with 461,000 workers in fast food. Second-place Ohio only has 164,000 workers, followed by Georgia with 145,000 fast food workers.
One reason the occupation may be so high on the list is because there were almost 3.8 million fast food workers in the United States in 2024, according to the BLS, making it the second-highest number of workers by profession in the United States.
Retail Sales and Cashiers
Working in retail sales and cashier positions is also a popular job, with 11 states counting these workers as the most common positions, including Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Vermont, and Wyoming.
Of those states, Florida dominates them with 333,000 retail sales and cashier positions. Second-place North Carolina is the only other state on the list with more than 100,000 retail workers, coming in with 128,000 positions in retail sales.
Home Health Aides
10 states count home health aides as the most employed, with California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin on the list. California dominates the list with 970,000 home health aides while second-place New York has an additional 663,000 home health aides.
Home health aides and personal care aides are the most popular profession in the country with more than 4.3 million workers in the industry. The BLS expects the industry to add the most jobs of any major profession with almost 740,000 home health aides jobs being added by 2034.
Freight Movers
It may be surprising to see four states have freight movers as the most popular profession, and even more surprising to see all four states —Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee—right next to each other. But the position is a popular one, with more than 2.2 million heavy and tractor-trailer drivers in the country and an additional 1.1 million light truck drivers, according to the BLS.
Operations Managers
Operations managers are the third-most popular job in the United States behind home health aides and fast food workers, which may be why the position still leads all others in four states. Arizona leads the list with 110,000 operations managers, followed closely by Missouri at 109,000. Third-place Maryland has 97,000, and the District of Columbia has 38,000.
Nurses
Like home health aides, nurses are also in demand, with the profession topping the list in West Virginia and Delaware. One reason for the increase in demand for these types of healthcare positions may be the aging American population, which will need nurses and health aides as residents get older.
One-Hit Hot Jobs
Three states are represented by popular jobs that don't top the list anywhere else in the U.S. Washington has the most software developers, likely helped by tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon, which are headquartered there. North Dakota's workforce is led by truck drivers due to the state's reliance on sectors like energy production and agriculture.
And in Michigan, assemblers have the most popular job, in part due to the dominance of auto manufacturing in the state.